Bangladesh’s comprehensive disaster management programme

Bangladesh is afflicted by a multitude of natural hazards. In an average year, roughly 10 million Bangladeshi citizens are affected by one or more such hazards and their frequency and severity is projected to increase as a result of climate change. This ‘Inside story on climate compatible development’ by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network notes that the impacts of these disasters are exacerbated by the fact that almost one third of the nation’s population lives below the poverty line and has little capacity to adapt. The brief illustrates how Bangladesh has developed a comprehensive disaster management programme, which takes a proactive approach to addressing disasters, shifting the emphasis away from relief and rehabilitation towards risk reduction. It aims to accomplish this by fostering a holistic, multi-hazard approach to reduce the nation’s risk and vulnerability to a variety of human-induced and natural hazards.